Centre for Bioinformatics

About Department

The Centre for Bioinformatics in Pondicherry University was started as Sub Distributed Information Centre of the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India (DBT) in 1991. The mandate of the Centre is to train manpower and conduct research in various areas of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Recognizing the progress made by the Centre, DBT upgraded the Centre to a full Centre level in 2002 and several new positions were sanctioned and additional funding was allocated.

The Centre is identified as a Centre of Excellence for Research and Training in the field of Bioinformatics by the Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi from 2007 to 2013 and awarded a special grant of ` 3.69 crores. The Centre has taken up several research projects and has offered modular courses in Bioinformatics under this Grant.

The Centre started a M.Sc., program in Bioinformatics in 2007 supported by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under the scheme of “Innovative Programme - Teaching & Research in Interdisciplinary and Emerging Areas”. For advanced research in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, the Centre started Ph.D. Programme in 2009. The Centre also received UGC Special Assistance Program (SAP) at the DRS-I level in 2012.The Centre for Bioinformatics has received a grant of ` 1 crore under DST-FIST program for procuring sophisticated equipment.

The Centre started an innovative M.Sc. program in Computational Biology fully funded by DBT in a network mode with Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai and Anna University, Chennai in 2010. This programme is first of its kind in the country and upgraded to M.Tech program in Computational Biology from 2014 in collaboration with Anna University, Chennai. The Centre has also signed an MoU with Institute of Bioinformatics (IoB), Bangalore for collaborative research and Ph.D. guidance. The Ph.D. students can visit these labs for collaborative research and the details are available at www.bicpu.edu.in.

All students, research scholars and faculty are provided round-the-clock computing facility. The Centre has established a separate wet lab facility with sophisticated equipments. Most of the past students have been placed in various leading research institutions and industries.

Over the past few years, the Centre has taken up research activities in the areas of molecular evolution, systems biology, molecular modeling, structural biology, database development etc., and several papers have been published in highly reputed International and National Journals. The faculty and students have received projects/fellowships from various funding agencies like Department of Biotechnology, Department of Information Technology, University Grants Commission, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-JRF/SRF, Department of Science and Technology, Bioinformatics National Certificate (BINC), DST-Innovation in Science pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) and Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship.

The University has provided a new state-of-the art building for our Centre.

Entrance Examination

Ph.D.Selection is based on an entrance examination conducted at various Centres by Pondicherry University. The test consists of multiple choice questions in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Biophysics, Computer Science, Statistics and Mathematics at PG level. Candidates who have qualified for JRF (UGC / CSIR-NET / DBT-BINC) are exempted from entrance exam. They can apply directly.

M.Sc. Bioinformatics Selection is based on an entrance examination conducted at various Centres by Pondicherry University. The test consists of multiple choice questions in Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Biophysics, Computer Science, Statistics and Mathematics.

M.Tech. Computational Biology Selection will be based on a common entrance examination to be conducted at various Centres by Pondicherry University. The details will be advertised in newspapers and will be available at www.pondiuni.edu.in, www.bicpu.edu.in and www.annauniv.edu. The test consists of multiple choice questions in Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Biophysics, Computer Science, Statistics and Mathematics. A stipend of ` 8,000/- p.m. will be provided by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, New Delhi for all the students admitted.

Special Grants

DBT - Centre for Bioinformatics (Continuing Scheme)

DIT - CoE in Bioinformatics (2007 - 2013)

DBT – M.Sc./M.Tech. Computational Biology (Continuing Scheme)

UGC - Innovative Programme-Teaching and research in Interdisciplinary (Continuing Scheme)

DBT - Advanced P.G. Diploma in Bioinformatics (2001 - 2008)

UGC – Special Assistance Program (Continuing Scheme)

DST-FIST program (Continuing Scheme)

Placements

Some of the Institutions/ Industries who have recruited our students are as follows:

GQSAR (VLife) Intelligent QSAR using molecular fragments of interest and their features, evaluation of descriptors from template scaffold to form relationship with the activity.

Molecular Dynamics: AMBER 11, GROMOS96

Infrastructure Facilities – Wetlab Our wet lab is equipped with state of the Art facility, highly sophisticated Akta Purifier for protein purification with various columns (size exclusion, Ion exchange, Affinity). Each and every student is equipped with both Page and slab gel electrophoresis system, which is also equipped with centrifuges, Spectrophotometer and Elisa Reader. We are also having facilities for Protein cloning, expression and purification. We are in the process of furnishing cell culture facilities.